Acropora listeri

Acropora listeri is a stony coral belonging to the family Acroporidae, characterized by a branching skeletal structure built from calcium carbonate secreted by its colonial polyps. Like other Acropora species, it relies on symbiotic zooxanthellae for the majority of its energy needs and contributes to reef framework construction, providing three-dimensional habitat structure that supports fish and invertebrate communities. Its growth form makes it an important contributor to reef accretion and structural complexity.

The species occurs in marine neritic waters across a broad Indo-Pacific range, including Seychelles, Australia, Thailand, Yemen, Taiwan, China, and Japan, typically inhabiting shallow reef environments.

The species is classified as Endangered with a decreasing population trend. Threats include fishing and harvesting activities that damage reef substrate, recreational activities such as diving and anchoring, disease outbreaks and pressure from problematic native species (such as coral-eating invertebrates), and pollution from domestic wastewater and agricultural runoff that degrades water quality. Habitat alteration, storm and flood damage, and fire-related land-use impacts further compound these pressures, while invasive species add additional ecological stress.

Conservation measures affecting this species operate largely through broader marine protected area networks across its range countries, along with international trade regulation under CITES, which lists Acropora species. Reef monitoring programs and water quality management initiatives in several range states also contribute indirectly to its protection.

Given the combination of localized human pressures and broader environmental stressors including warming-related disease and storm damage, the species' trajectory remains negative. Its survival is closely tied to the health of the wider reef ecosystems it depends on, and continued degradation of those systems suggests ongoing population decline is likely without significant improvements in water quality management and reef protection enforcement.